Balotelli unhappy with bad press claims agent

AC Milan fans should cherish Mario Balotelli for as long as they can, according to the player's agent, who claims his client is unhappy with the constant bad press he is receiving.

As was often the case during Balotelli's Manchester City days, he draws most of the attention, good or bad, and Mino Raiola says the point has been reached where he may decide enough is enough and leave Italy.

"There is an exaggerated amount of attention on him," Raiola told Mediaset prior to Milan's 1-1 draw with Barcelona, in which Balotelli came on as a second-half substitute. "It's not on. I don't know if I'd be able to stand it all personally. We all need to calm down and we'll analyse things with Milan.

"Certainly Italy will not be the final stage of his career, but we still have lots of years on his contract here and we don't want to think that he has to leave for this reason."

Less than a year after arriving, though, it is hard to see Balotelli leaving Milan already, and the club's general manager Adriano Galliani has laughed off the suggestion.

"Raiola's a sly guy," he said. "He likes to be provocative. I've known Mino for many years so I'm not worried." Galliani was not worried about finding out that Raiola had been in the Barcelona dressing room after the game either, making reference to Neymar and Lionel Messi.

"Then we can do a swap," Galliani joked. "They've got two forwards who aren't bad. They can choose - we'd take either the Brazilian or the Argentinian."